Colin is a sickly child, confined to his bedroom, but slowly a friendship forms between them and Mary begins to open up Colin’s world by taking him outside to visit the garden she has discovered. It turns out that Colin’s father is overly protective and has kept him shut away for the good of his health. He is initially displeased to discover that his son has been venturing outside, but he is soon overcome with joy at seeing his son’s subsequent recovery to good health and grateful to Mary for her part.
The theme of the book is essentially about the restorative properties of nature. On her arrival at Maytham Hall Mary was an ill-tempered and neglected child, but the garden soothes her and helps her to piece her life back together again. It has a similar calming affect on Colin, who suffers from psychosomatic illness partly brought about by the obsessive nature of his father. His father remains in mourning for his late wife, but he too eventually finds solace and happiness through the garden.
Little Lord Fauntleroy
The phrase ‘Little Lord Fauntleroy’ has become a byword for a boy who is spoilt and has a sense of entitlement. This idea is completely at odds however with the true nature of the child described in Hodgson Burnett’s Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886). It seems that this misapprehension must have come from people who had never read the book or else missed the point entirely.
The boy in the story is, in fact, an American named Cedric Errol, who has lived his life so far with his mother in a downtrodden neighbourhood of New York City. He discovers that he is the next in line to become Lord Fauntleroy in England and reluctantly goes to live with his grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, who is an indefensible snob. In fact, the Earl refused to have anything to do with Cedric’s mother because she was an American. Cedric has been raised with the idea that his grandfather is a philanthropist and benefactor, when in fact he is a misanthrope and a miser. However, the old man soon falls for the child and has no wish to disappoint him and to the amazement of others, he begins to show generosity and concern for their wellbeing. Ultimately the Earl learns that his idea of aristocratic behaviour was at fault and that the boy has taught him the importance of compassion and empathy. He accepts Cedric and his mother, having realised the value and importance of tolerance and connection. So, Cedric is anything but the conceited character that the phrase ‘Little Lord Fauntleroy’ is used to imply.
Following the release of the novel there was a curious fashion amongst the aspiring classes for dressing young boys in ‘Little Lord Fauntleroy’ outfits – velvet jumpsuits with lace collars. It seems that this image persisted in the public consciousness though few ever read the story, and this led to the misconception that the character was pompous and demanding, based simply on appearance. The author was keenly aware of the differences between cultures in England and America, because she had emigrated to the US at the age of 16. The idea that Americans were brash and uncouth was commonplace among the English upper class, because the US was founded on the notion that anyone had the right and opportunity to succeed – The Land of the Free. Hodgson Burnett was evidently keen to express her view that it was the intrinsic qualities of a person that mattered and not perceived etiquette and affectations designed to divide society.
A Little Princess
In the world of schooling, books for advanced readers are known as ‘chapter books’ since they are divided into manageable chapters. A Little Princess has garnered a reputation as one of the best chapter books for children since its initial publication in 1905. Aside from Burnett’s accessible writing style, one of the reasons for this novel’s popularity is its theme of human virtue and subsequent reward that still strikes a chord over a century later.
The central character is a young girl, Sara, who is left at boarding school while her father seeks his fortune abroad. Unfortunately her father dies and the girl, unable to pay her fees, is entered into service at the school. As a result she has to deal with poor treatment and squalid conditions, yet she still manages to keep a smile on her face and show kindness to others. Eventually a friend of her father’s comes to the rescue and her fortunes change once more for the better.
In essence Burnett had written a morality play in the story of Sara. This was a common theme at the turn of the twentieth century; as the modern world was emerging from the Victorian era, there was much debate about the true nature of humanity. In Sara, Burnett demonstrates that empathy for others cannot be eroded by circumstance – she is a fundamental humanitarian, expressing affection and generosity regardless of her own situation. This is a grand moral virtue that survives as one of the cornerstones of civilized society, and this gives the story a timeless quality despite its period setting.
The Edwardian Era
The Secret Garden was written in the Edwardian era, just before the outbreak of World War I. Queen Victoria had died at the turn of the 20th century and the British Empire covered an astonishing quarter of the globe. Hodgson Burnett was a working-class Mancunian, but she also had a worldly view because of her time spent in the States. Consequently, she had cultivated a romanticised and slightly bittersweet view of English aristocracy.
Her heroine Mary had been cruelly neglected by her well-to-do parents living in colonial India and then orphaned by their deaths from cholera. Her uncle was also rather remote from his son Colin, demonstrating Hodgson Burnett’s view of the upper-class English as being stiff and lacking in emotional connection. She uses the secret garden as a form of therapy for the children, indicating that she recognises the value in keeping one’s feet on the ground, literally as well as metaphorically. The children are also helped in their recuperation by the working-class staff at the manor.
This idea of the importance of socially connecting is paralleled in Howards End, written by E. M. Forster and published the year before The Secret Garden, in 1910. Forster’s book addresses relationships between people of different classes and cultures, as the central characters are Germans living in pre-war England. Following World War I, the world was left a very different place. The British Empire had had its foundations shaken and was about to be razed to the ground. Similarly the class structure in England was eroding with the redistribution of wealth and opportunity.
Hodgson Burnett had already moved back to America by 1909, having secured US citizenship. She lived in New York State for the remainder of her life, where she continued to write. In The Secret Garden she had experimented with ideas about curing ailments through mind over matter, and this became something of central interest in her autumn years. This was expressed in her practising theosophy, which was essentially a blend of religion and philosophy. It seems that her mind required a belief system, but she was reluctant to think of herself as religious and invest her entirety in religion alone.
Hodgson Burnett was also a playwright, but she is best known as a children’s writer and fantasy novelist. The Secret Garden has become a staple of English literature because it is the kind of story that can be enjoyed by both child and adult together. Moreover, many children grow into adults with a fondness for the story and then introduce their own offspring to its charm. For that reason, the book has remained popular for a century.
Once on a dark winter’s day, when the yellow fog hung so thick and heavy in the streets of London that the lamps